In the Reign of Terror: The Adventures of a Westminster BoyHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
In the Reign of Terror: The Adventures of a Westminster Boy
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Fiction; Historical fiction
When he had changed his clothes Harry extinguished all the lights in
the salon, for the marquis had long before ordered all the servants
to retire to rest. Then he opened the window looking into the street
and took his place close to it. Sleep under the circumstances was
impossible.
As the hours passed he thought over the events of the last few
days. He was fully aware that the task he had undertaken might be
full of danger; but to a healthy and active English lad a spice of
danger is by no means a deterrent. He could, of course, have left
his employment before the family left their chateau; but after
his arrival in Paris it would have been difficult for him to have
traversed the country and crossed the frontier, and he thought that
the danger which he now ran was not much greater than would have
been entailed by such a step.
In the next place he was greatly attached to the family of the
marquis; and the orgies of the mob had filled him with such horror
and disgust that he would have risked much to save any unfortunate, even
a stranger, from their hands; and lastly, he felt the fascination
of the wild excitement of the times, and congratulated himself
that he should see and perhaps be an actor in the astonishing drama
which was occupying the attention of the whole civilized world.
As he sat there he arranged his own plans. After seeing his charge
in safety he would take a room in some quiet locality, alleging
that he was the clerk of a notary, and would, in the dress of one
of that class, or the attire of one of the lower orders, pass his
days in the streets, gathering every rumour and watching the course
of events.
Morning was just breaking when he heard the sound of many feet
coming along the street, and looking out saw a crowd of men with
torches, headed by two whose red scarfs showed them to be officials.
As they reached the entrance gate the men at the head of the
procession stopped. Harry at once darted away to the long gallery,
and as he did so, heard a loud knocking at the door.
Scarcely had he reached the gallery when a door at the further end
opened, and three figures, the tallest carrying a lamp, appeared.
The girls, too, had been keeping watch with their father and
mother. They were dressed in the attire of respectable peasant
girls. Virginie was weeping loudly, but the elder girls, although
their cheeks bore traces of many tears they had shed during the
night, restrained them now. When they reached Harry, the lad,
without a word, took the lamp from Marie's hand, and led the way
along the corridor and down the stairs towards the back of the
house.
Everything was quiet. The knocking, loud as it was, had not yet
aroused the servants, and, drawing the bolt quietly, and blowing
out the lamp, Harry led the way into the garden behind the house.
Then for a moment he paused. There was a sound of axes hewing down
the gate which led from the garden into the street behind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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